Congratulations to Dr. April Manuel for earning her newly-minted PhD! Dr. Manuel teaches at Memorial University’s School of Nursing and has a background in cardiovascular nursing.

So not surprisingly, when it came time to choose a topic for her dissertation, she chose to study the experience of people who live with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), a deadly genetic heart condition that can cause sudden death.

Though Memorial researchers discovered the gene responsible for ARVC back in 2008, Dr. Manuel’s research is the first qualitative study to focus on the genetic condition.